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Treasures from the Porirua Mafutaga Tupulaga Tokelau

This week is the inaugural Tokelau Language Week (29 October – 4 November). The theme is Ke mau ki pale o Tokelau: Hold fast to the treasures of Tokelau. To celebrate, the Pacific Cultures team will post a blog each day highlighting cultural treasures from Tokelau in Te Papa’s collections.

This second blog post acknowledges the relationship and treasures gifted by the Mafutaga Tupulaga Tokelau from Porirua to Te Papa (then known as the National Museum) in 1986. Of the 20 treasures, items included a walking stick, paddles and tuluma (container). According to the 2006 census, about half of the Tokelau population in New Zealand live in Wellington.

Since the 1970s, in April, an Easter Festival has been organized by the Tokelauan community. This year, the festival featured Tokelau treasures from Te Papa’s collection in an exhibition held at the Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua. To read more about this special occasion, click on the following blog post: Tokelau Expo – a different loan request.